Dan Shapiro's Blog

I’m always amazed at how many woodworkers don’t know about calipers. These little metal instruments of hyperaccurate joyous delight are an absolute staple for machinists; they wouldn’t be caught dead without one. Yet many woodworkers don’t have one and wouldn’t know what to do with it if they did.

The Good: Cheap, useful, tough, protective. The Bad: Rough workmanship; leather is not very heavy-duty. The Bottom Line: For $25, you’d be a fool not to buy one right now. NSY rating: FIVE THUMBS UP (5/5)

1) I get free tools. 2) You get free tools. 3) We’re a bunch of big fat sellouts, so… 4) If someone gives me a free tool and it stinks, I won’t write a review about it.

My brother recently told me about an update to a curious safety story I’ve been following for a few years: the persistant people of SawStop, who invented a new safety feature for tablesaws.

If you want to learn more about safety, there’s lots of excellent books and courses you can pay for. But why spend your own hard-earned dollars twice… your friendly federal government has spent the money already!

When you’re adjusting your tablesaw fence, it’s common practice to have it slant ever-so-slightly away from the sawblade. If you do this, don’t move the fence to the opposite side of the blade!

15% off at Rockler.com.

My new table saw came with a Biesmeyer-style rip fence. Bies fences are only attached on one end; the far side doesn’t clamp at all. I was having a little difficulty with it after setup until I figured out the problem.

I was messing around with some cocobolo this week. It’s crazy stuff. When you finish sanding it, the red parts are suddenly yellow. And I don’t mean “it gets slightly more yellow”, I mean post-it note, bug-lamp yellow.

So I made some picture frames recently, and they had pretty mediocre corners. If you’ve tried to get a perfect 45 degree miter before, you know what a pain in the posterior this can be.